Vinnie Hacker Imagines

101. Showing up matters

Plot: you and Vinnie go to your son's end-of-the-school-year event
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📍John Hay Elementary School
Seattle, Washington

You were watching the time on your phone carefully. Vinnie has 15 minutes to be here but there's no message from him. Vinnie had some modeling work to do for a magazine, which he had traveled to LA for. He started the day before but work like that takes a while, but he swore up and down to you and Jordan that he'd be here.

A hand on your shoulder makes you jump but then you get a familiar whiff of cologne. "I'm here, I'm here." He mumbled as he scoots past you to sit in the seat next to you that you saved for him.

"Where were you?"

"Caught in traffic coming from the airport. It was hell. The school should've picked a better time to do this."

You nodded in agreement. The timing wasn't ideal. With it being rush hour and people getting off from work and stuff.

"So, what's happening so far?" Vinnie asked.

"Nothing yet. Everyone's just getting situated and waiting for the kids to come out."

After a few more minutes of talking to each other and saying hello to the other parents, one of the kindergarten teachers came out on the stage to introduce herself.

"Hello everyone, I'm Mrs. Harrison. Thank you all for coming to celebrate our 2022 kindergarten graduates." She said into the microphone. "We have something special planned that we've been planning for the last two weeks."

After that, she stood to the side to allow the kids to come up. They walked in a line up to the stage and you and Vinnie had your phones out to record. Your son Jordan comes into view and y'all see him but he doesn't see y'all at first. He's looking around and anxiously playing with his fingers as he walked in front of all the parents. You could see his eyes scanning the room as he was looking for you and Vinnie. When he finally found you, a smile erupted on his face and he waved. You and Vinnie waved back.

The kids stood on the stage and sang some songs for the parents with the help of two teachers in front of them, mouthing the words and hand movements so they wouldn't forget. There's even laughter from the crowd whenever one of the kids does something cute.

"How do you think he's doing?" Vinnie whispered to you.

"Nervous," you reply. "But he's got it."

After the songs, they all lined up to get their diploma and a picture with their teacher one by one.

The function was short, as expected. Vinnie holds your hand while you two weave through the crowd to pick up your son. It's when he calls out "Mama!" that your able to find him.

"There he is!" Vinnie grunts as he picks up Jordan in his arms. "You did so well."

"Was easy." Jordan says so nonchalantly. There's something in the way he says it that sounds so much like Vinnie.

"And look!" He hands you his diploma.

Technically, it was just a certificate with his name and the school name on it along with the year, but you were still gonna treat it like an actual diploma.

Being here makes you and Vinnie remember events like this when you two were kids. But unfortunately, parents couldn't make it most of the time due to working. Looking around and not seeing anyone there for you. You'd hate for Jordan to feel that way. You and Vinnie were always going to come to these things. No matter how big or small.